Battery Power

While the All-Star break may not have been much of a break for first-time All-Star Drake Baldwin, the Braves catcher has certainly come out of the break refreshed. Baldwin finished off a stellar first series back from the break with a career-high five hits — two more than he had ever had in a game — in Atlanta’s 8-5 win over the Texas Rangers at Truist Park Sunday afternoon which clinched a series victory.

Here we are once again preparing for another Braves rubber match. Friday’s dominant showing was followed up by an unlucky 7-6 Saturday loss, leaving the Braves’ first series of the second half of the season against the Texas Rangers level at a win apiece. Surely that means the Braves will have some form of luck on their side for Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. ET finale at Truist Park, right? If only baseball worked that way.

The Braves are keeping the core of the lineup that has come out of the All-Star break in better form through two games intact, with only a few small changes for Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. ET rubber match against the Texas Rangers at Truist Park. The top five of the order remains the same, although Drake Baldwin moves back behind the plate to bring Dominic Smith, who is hitting sixth, in at designated hitter against a righty starter.

After using pretty much all their pitchers except hitting hero Victor Mederos on Saturday afternoon, the Braves are making a move to get another mop-up arm to the roster. The 31-year-old Elieser Hernandez is a veteran of six major league seasons, but has amassed -0.8 fWAR in his 303 1/3 career innings. He spent some time in 2024 and 2025 in the KBO, and has been eating innings at an underwhelming performance level for Triple-A Gwinnett for much of this year.

AJ Smith-Shawver’s scoreless rehab outing led the action on the Atlanta Braves farm system on Saturday. Saturday saw the Atlanta Braves affiliates win four out of six games that were played, though the most important news is how the rehabbing players looked. AJ Smith-Shawver turned in a great 72-pitch outing, while Ronald Acuna Jr. reached base twice as did Ha-Seong Kim.

Looking to start off the second half of the season on the right note, the Braves start Grant Holmes, who was highlighted on the MLB X account this week in a Dropout-related meme, in the rubber match of their home series against the Texas Rangers Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET. Holmes (5-4, 3.61 ERA) has had a mixed bag of a season.

The Mets, through Chelsea Janes, have started letting teams know that they will begin selling off the team with the exception of a few players. All of the approximately 20 or so teams that are still in a stone’s throw of a wild card spot have begun salivating. Woo for expanded playoff, I guess. It’s almost certain that the mutual NL East resident Mets will send any of their players in order to help the Braves to the postseason.

Ray Kerr has strong rehab outting as does AJ Smith-Shawver Lefty Ray Kerr, who had a few promising outings for the Braves before having to have Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow made a rehab start for the Rome Emperors today and was quite effective. At Triple-A, rehabbing starting pitcher AJ Smith Shawver also was strong - striking out five in 4.1 innings for Gwinnett - as he inches closer to a possible return to Atlanta. He is also recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The Braves came into Saturday looking for a series win behind Owen Murphy, facing MacKenzie Gore and the Rangers. Murphy went up 1-2 on Joc Pederson to start the game, but gave up a solo homer to the Braves’ legend. Drake Baldwin led off the bottom of the frame with an opposite field single, but the Braves were unable to capitalize on the leadoff baserunner.

Join us and discuss tonight’s matchup of two intriguing pitchers in the comments below! Game Date/Time: Saturday, July 18, 4:10 p.m. ET Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, Los Bravos